Piercing a container holding a liquid can lead to the liquid escaping from the container. Various consequences of a pierced container can include loss of a valuable liquid or contamination of an environment by the liquid. Consequences of pierced fuel tank or fuel cell include loss of fuel, which will cause an engine using the fuel to cease operation. In battle conditions, a breached fuel tank can lead to the downing of a plane or the abandonment of a land vehicle on the battlefield.
Protecting fuel tanks from enemy fire by the addition of armor may affect the flight worthiness of aircraft or the mobility of a land vehicle. Accordingly, retrofitting aircraft or a land vehicle with armor to protect a fuel tank is very limited.
Other attempts to protect fuel tanks exposed to battle conditions have included the use of self-sealing bladders that contain an uncured gum rubber layered between two non-permeable membranes. When a projectile, such as a bullet penetrates the bladder, the fuel inside the bladder makes contact with the raw rubber, which swells to seal the wound created by the projectile. However, such bladders are limited due to weight constraints, and/or size of a penetration.